Peters Township grad Stopperich qualifies for U.S. Mid-Am
A couple years ago, Peters Township grad Alec Stopperich was chasing his dream of being a professional golfer in Florida.
He won the West Penn Open as a professional in 2024, but shortly after he decided to give up his pro status, returned home to the Pittsburgh area and took a job in wealth management and insurance.
One of the unique aspects of golf is that as an amateur there’s plenty of opportunities to play in big events and that’s what Stopperich will do later this year.
Stopperich won a qualifier for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship on Tuesday at Nemacolin’s Mystic Rock Golf Course in Farmington.
The win earned him a spot in the 45th U.S. Mid-Am, which will be held Sept. 26-Oct. 1 at the Lido Course at Sand Valley Resort in Nekoosa, Wisc.
The Mid-Am is a United State Golf Association sanctioned event and the winner gets an invitation to next year’s Masters and U.S. Open.
“I had been playing some pretty good golf the last couple of months, so I felt pretty good going into it,” Stopperich said about his performance Tuesday. “This is my first time trying to qualify for the Mid-Am, so to make it this year is something I’m super proud of. This will be my first individual USGA event. I have played in the USGA four-ball in the past, but as far as individual competition this will be my first, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
Stopperich, 28, shot five-under par 67 to win the qualifier by two shots. He hadn’t played at Mystic Rock since he was 13 years old in a junior event, and that was rained out halfway through, but his lack of course knowledge didn’t hinder him Tuesday.
After opening with a bogey, Stopperich made seven birdies in his round.
“I hadn’t seen holes eight through 18 in over a decade,” Stopperich said. “I knew in the first seven holes there were some good birdie opportunities on one, four and five and I was able to take advantage of four and five. I knew eight was a short par four and I was able to get another birdie there. Making those birdies in that stretch kind of eased me down and I knew I was playing good enough golf to get it done.
“As far as the part I hadn’t seen, I have this weird thing where If I haven’t played a course or really remember, it somewhat allows me to have more of a game plan that I have to stick to. I don’t know where the trouble is, so seeing from the tee and playing somewhat conservatively allows me to not get into any sticky situations.”
After a successful high school career at Peters Township, Stopperich went on to play college golf at Samford and Memphis.
His goal was to make a career in golf, but as time went on decided that it was best to move on and return to amateur status.
“I lived with my best friend in Tampa and he was playing professional golf too,” Stopperich said. “There was a great group of guys down there, but it just got to a point where after a couple of years I wasn’t seeing the progression from a tour status perspective. I just sort of fell out of love with the daily grind and having all that pressure to perform well every single day, so I made the difficult decision to move back to Pittsburgh and start a professional career outside of golf.”
Since returning to amateur status, Stopperich has felt a weight lifted off him when he’s on the golf course.
“What I’ve found since is that I don’t put as much pressure on myself now when I’m playing competitive golf and that has allowed me to free myself up and play the game the way I know how,” Stopperich said. “Fortunately, that’s led to some good results this year.”
The U.S. Mid-Am is open to all amateurs that are 25 and older with a handicap index of 2.4 or lower. After two rounds of stroke play there’s a cut and a field of 64 players move on to match play.
Stopperich is already formulating a travel plan on how he’ll get to the Mid-Am and he’ll be taking his good friend Shawn McCleary with him to caddie. McCleary caddied for Stopperich at Mystic Rock.
“He’s one of my closest friends,” Stopperich said. “We play golf together at Valley Brook and have played a lot of events as partners. He probably knows my game better than anybody.”
Stopperich has never been to Wisconsin to golf before, but he’ll get a couple practice rounds at Lido before the Mid-Am starts.
Judging by how he did at Mystic Rock with limited knowledge, a couple of practice rounds should be plenty for Stopperich to get ready.